The invention relates generally to the field of material processing, and more particularly to the processing of a continuous supply of material such as a fabric web that is transported for processing at a substantially constant rate of speed.
The processing of material that is continuously supplied to various material processing apparatus presents a number of obstacles that must be overcome if the material is to be processed economically and expediently. These problems are particularly acute in the field of processing continuous webs of material that are continuously delivered to appropriate processing apparatus. The problem that typically arises in these processing systems is that of handling the continuously moving supply of material when the processing step takes a finite interval of time, during which the input of material for processing must be temporarily suspended. In such instances, this problem has typically been addressed by allowing for the introduction of a predetermined length of excess material or slack between the rollers of the material transport apparatus upstream of the material processing apparatus. However, this technique is not universally applicable for the processing of all types of material webs, since the termination of processing of the upstream portion of material results in sudden acceleration of the slack portion of the web. This can result in web slippage or misalignment within the web transport apparatus, or even web breakage. Further problems arise when the material web is to be mechanically worked, as by molding, shaping, or printing, without compromising the structural integrity of the web.
The processing of material in the form of continuous webs is advantageous when the production of a large number of substantially identical articles is to be achieved. Such situations arise, for example, in the manufacture and printing of standard articles such as fabric care labels that are required to be included with, or affixed to, various garments and items of apparel that are to be introduced into the marketplace for sale. As the provision of such fabric care labels is usually a requirement imposed upon the garment or apparel manufacturer rather than one that is voluntarily adopted, as is the case with source identifier labels which display trade names and trademarks in which the manufacturer has invested substantial time and capital, there exists little motivation to provide a fabric care label that exceeds the minimum standards for size, durability and clarity. Further, because the provision of such fabric care labels is not typically associated by the garment manufacturer with generating sales revenue, considerable emphasis is placed on obtaining the required care labels in the most cost effective manner possible. However, efforts to introduce into the market printing machines that are capable of economically and expediently producing large numbers of individually printed labels, and that are readily adaptable to implement changes in the content of the information to be printed or the color, composition or size of the label itself, have not been entirely successful due to the previously described problem of handling a continuous supply of fabric label material to be printed.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages and limitations in the prior art, it is an object of the subject invention to provide methods and apparatus for efficiently and economically handling a continuous supply of material that is to be mechanically worked such as by printing prior to severing into individual, discrete printed articles.
A further object of the subject invention is to provide methods and apparatus which provide for the orderly stacking of continuously supplied articles.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide methods and apparatus which provide for the cutting of a continuously fed material web into a plurality of web segments and the orderly stacking of the cut web segments in such a manner as to permit the efficient removal of the cut and stacked web segments during the course of web processing.